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August 14, 2025 27 mins

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Have you ever hit a slump? That feeling when motivation disappears, purpose seems distant, and getting out of bed feels like climbing a mountain? You're not alone.

This powerful conversation between Ron Myers and Tommy Letson—a former high-profile drug dealer once facing life plus 25 years who now works in Christian rehabilitation—emerged spontaneously when Ron made what seemed like a casual check-in call. What unfolds reveals the extraordinary power of divine timing.

When Ron called Tommy that morning, he found his friend mourning the loss of his mentor Bob McLeod. Tommy confesses he was lying in bed feeling worthless until the phone rang. "Thank you for being obedient and making that call this morning, because it's right on time," Tommy tells Ron, recognizing how a simple connection can pull us from our darkest places.

The conversation weaves through profound insights about finding purpose in pain, surrendering to something greater than ourselves, and discovering how our personal messes can become powerful messages for others. Tommy shares his mentor's wisdom that "we don't walk ahead of God, we don't walk behind God, we walk with Him," offering a beautiful framework for navigating life's challenges.

Perhaps most striking is their discussion about how we're often "looking for love in all the wrong places." Tommy observes that many people transfer their need for unconditional love to pets because "people have hurt them so much," while missing the unlimited source of love available through spiritual connection. As Ron puts it, we're "only one divine thought away from an incredible day."

Ready to pull yourself out of a slump? Their prescription is simple yet profound: reach out to someone today with kindness. Call someone you haven't spoken with in a while. Share a word of encouragement. As this conversation beautifully demonstrates, sometimes the lifeline you extend to someone else becomes your own path back to purpose and joy.

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Episode Transcript

Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hello, my friends, good to be with you today.
Have you ever hit a slump?
Maybe you are in a slump rightnow.
You're not too motivated andyou know that you've got to get
moving, but you don't know howto get moving.
Maybe you heard some bad newsand you start to sense your
mortality.
It happens to every personalive.

(00:20):
The real question we need toask is how do I get out of a
slump?
A few weeks ago, I found myselfin a slump.
I had become aware of quite afew people that I really admire
and respected had died, and waytoo young.
They still had things to sharewith the world.
So I started thinking about thethings that I do.

(00:43):
Do they matter?
Should I quit and spend therest of my life traveling or
playing golf?
In other words, I was beginningto sit on a pity pot and I was
becoming aware of it, and Ididn't really like it.
I stood up and said Ron, getyour head in the game.
It is a fact that all of us dieand we have a choice to make.

(01:04):
We have to get busy living orget busy dying.
And then, after my pep talk tomyself, I felt the urge to call
one of my former guests just tosay hi and without either one of
us aware of it.
This week's episode of Get theHell Out of your Life was
created After I saw what washappening with our conversation.

(01:27):
I told Tommy I'm going to turnthe microphone on and we had a
pretty special conversation, aconversation that will bless you
, encourage you and inspire you.
My guest is Tommy Letson, aformer high profile drug dealer
and a former convicted felonwith a life sentence plus 25

(01:47):
years added.
But God had a different planfor Tommy and today he is a man
in love with Jesus and works ina Christian rehab facility.
And I called Tommy at a goodtime Tommy, I'm talking about a
slump, and you said my phonecall was a blessing because you

(02:08):
are in a little slump.

Speaker 2 (02:09):
Yes, it's been one of them days.
A very dear friend and mentorof mine, bob McLeod, who was our
father's arms here inJacksonville, alabama, passed
away.
Truly, a man of God Loved theLord beyond more than anybody
that I've ever known, trustedhim fully and totally.

(02:31):
He had a saying that he saidthat we don't walk ahead of God,
we don't walk behind God.
We walk with him.
When he moves, we move.
When he stops, we stop.
And that's the way that thisministry actually operates.
We've got a big place over hereat Fort McClellan that was
donated to us called RemingtonHall, and we're in the process

(02:53):
of opening it back up.
And Bob passed away preaching afuneral, on his way to do a
great service of a dear friendof his.
And he had an aneurysm and hehad a saying he would say to
live is Christ, to die is gain,even if you've got a bubble on
your brain.
Totally at peace going throughwhat he was going through.
And I'm laying here this morningjust in my bed under the afghan

(03:17):
just oh, I'm just a worthlesspiece of crap.
I know me better than anybodyknows me.
I know me better than anybodyknows me.
And then I realized that thereis hope after dope and there is
a transition.
It's a process, not an event,when we think we've arrived, we
just missed it, and I'm layinghere all in my poor pity potty

(03:39):
laying here and then, mr Myers,you call me and just woke me up
because I know who my father is.
I know there is purpose, I knowthere is something that we all
have to go through to get to and, man, god bless you.
Thank you for being obedientand making that phone call this

(03:59):
morning, because it's right ontime.
I mean, it's amazing how aphone call can reveal the
personhood and the love of ourFather, that through Jesus
Christ we can be saved and wecan be forgiven.
There is nothing that we can'tbe forgiven for, unless it's, of

(04:20):
course, in the flesh, in theHoly Spirit.
I'm really not sure what thatis and I really don't care, but
I'm just going to make sure thatI don't do that.
Amen to that.
I'm just trusting in him, I'mtrusting in my friends.

Speaker 1 (04:30):
Amen.
Tommy I have—well, thank you.
I've told people before that Ihave met that are atheists and
don't believe in God.
Well, let me ask you have youever got a phone call at the

(04:51):
right time or somebody ran intoyou at the right time or
something you were thinkingabout began to happen?
I said do you really thinkthose were coincidences?
I said I personally don'tbelieve in coincidences, whether
people listening to this show,whether me, making the call that
God is so loving and so awesomethat even if we don't call him
our father at this time in life,he will do things to try to

(05:12):
make us aware that he is there.
I remember Tommy, after Ireally started walking with God
and I started looking back overmy life and some of the things
that happened.
I'm thinking that had to havebeen God.

Speaker 2 (05:25):
I should have never got out of that.
Mess 'm thinking that had tohave been God.

Speaker 1 (05:26):
I should have never got out of that mass.
In fact I should have been dead, I should have went to jail, I
should have done this and that,but it didn't happen.
And I look back and it was Godand it's kind of like this
coincidence.
There was no coincidence.
Something told me to call youthis morning.

Speaker 2 (05:46):
Yeah, I'm a little jealous, though, laying there in
the bed with a nice littleafghan.
Well, I'm going to tell you,you know, and I was dealing with
a guy the other day thatclaimed that he did not believe
in God.
I said you don't believe in God.
I said, by you just saying thatyou didn't believe in something
, it must exist because youcan't believe in it.
So, and the revelation of whohe really is.
Bob McLeod had that saying ofyou can't do right to be right.
You are right because he'smaking you right, and the way he

(06:09):
makes us right is through thethings that we go through the
transition from light todarkness.
Sometimes it's not easy andsometimes it's just a revelation
, but sometimes just a phonecall just reveals the personhood
of him and how much he actuallyloves us.
You know something that theworld needs to know.

Speaker 1 (06:35):
Our mess can become a message for God if we allow him
to mold us and shape us intothe person he created us to be.
Amen, amen.
You know, tommy, I don't thinkthat until you really understand
why you were born and what yourpurpose is, that you can really
truly have that peace and thejoy of happiness.
And only God can reveal why wewere born.
All these self-help books andmotivational speakers Now they

(06:57):
can make us feel good for a day,for a week, but they still
don't fill that little void inour life, do they?

Speaker 2 (07:06):
No, they don't, they don't.
I was born on November, the27th, which is Thanksgiving Day,
and it was Thanksgiving Daywhen I was born and my mom used
to say that, bless her heart,before she passed.
She said you were born onThanksgiving Day for a reason,
she said, but it only comes itonly the 27th.
I think it's every seven years.
It comes back on the 27th Again.

(07:27):
It's different days.
It's the last Thursday in themonth, however, that works.
But she used to tell me she saidYou're going to do something
that's going to transform theway that you even think life's
about, and I never couldunderstand that.
And the only way that I'mstarting to get a glimpse of it
is not trying to do anything,it's to let not make.

(07:49):
And when I let him lead, guideand direct my life, it's not me
making it, it's him making it.
And I'm starting to get aglimpse of letting not make.
Bob McLeod used to say that allthe time He'd say beloved, let
not make.
We don't have a gavel in ourhands, we can't have a gavel.

(08:11):
We have to love people and mostpeople that's going through
addiction and different kinds ofsins and stuff is because they
just don't know their love.

Speaker 1 (08:23):
Yeah, I think that's the one thing that so many
people are looking for.
They're looking for love in allthe wrong places.

Speaker 2 (08:32):
Oh, like that old song goes, you know, let me tell
you something about that oldsong.

Speaker 1 (08:35):
It has a connection right here to the Mississippi
Gulf Coast.
Wanda Millett I know Wanda.
She wrote that song Looking forLove in All the Wrong Places,
and that's what people will do.
You're right.
That will preach, won't it?

Speaker 2 (08:51):
It will.
People think that they look forlove as a feel good.
It's got a feel.
Sometimes love hurts, but youknow what is still life in that
love?
The only true life is in loveand the process that you're
going as long as you canremember that you're loved and
that there is a God that lovesyou enough to go with you

(09:12):
through the mess that you'regoing through, that you've made
for your life.
There is a light at the end ofthat tunnel and that's Jesus
Christ.

Speaker 1 (09:19):
I told you I love to run into people that don't
believe in God and I had aconversation with one about two
weeks ago and I said let me askyou something Do you have a pet?
Oh yes, I have a pet, littlelittle Muffy I don't know if
that was the name little Muffythe cat and I said you love that
cat, right?
And she said oh yes, I lovethat cat.

(09:40):
And I said you know, right nowpet ownership is up probably at
the all time highest ever.
And I said think on this andthen I'll leave you alone.
Why do people like pets or lovepets so much?
That is an example of God'sunconditional love.

Speaker 2 (09:57):
That is an example of God's unconditional love.

Speaker 1 (10:00):
No matter what you do to that pet, that pet will
always come back to you, curl upon your lap and lick your face
and just love the hell out ofyou.
And isn't that what ourHeavenly Father does to us?

Speaker 2 (10:14):
Yes, absolutely.
Pets are up.
Somebody else mentioned that tome a couple of weeks ago.
It's people looking forsomething to love.
They don't look at peoplebecause people have hurt them so
much that they transfer thatlove into an animal or to a pet
or something that's going tolove them unconditionally, Our

(10:35):
Father in heaven.
If they can ever get thatrevelation of that they are
loved, then they can also love.
But until you know that you'reloved, you can't love.

Speaker 1 (10:48):
Tommy, that was very insightful.
I never thought about that withpets that people, they're
looking for something to loveand something that will love
them back, and yet the verything that will give them
everlasting, unconditional,nonjudgmental love is the God of
the universe, the very God thatthey resist, reject and think

(11:13):
is a fairy tale.

Speaker 2 (11:14):
Doesn't make sense to me a fairy tale Doesn't make
sense to me when we look at theworld and the broken state that
it's in right now, the turmoiland stuff that's going in the
world.
People say if there is a God,how can this be happening?
It's a regressioning.
You know, in order for a seedto produce, it has to be put in

(11:36):
the ground and it has to die,literally die to bring life.
So, you know, if you look at itwith a perspective like to live
is Christ, to die is gain, evenif you've got a bubble on your
brain, that seed is planted inorder for life to come forth, it
must die.
And we have to die to self,surrender, we have to surrender.

(11:57):
When the Germans surrendered tothe United States, they lost
the war.
Well, when we surrendered toChrist, we went in order to live
, we must die, die to self.
Once we die to that, then weare renewed daily.
You know, yeah, so as you know,it's opposite of what society
teaches you, and the way thatChrist teaches us is so much

(12:20):
smoother.

Speaker 1 (12:20):
Yeah, so much smoother.
What do we do when we're in aslump?
What do we do?
How do we get motivated?
How do we get off of our pitypot?

Speaker 2 (12:29):
We trust in him.
This phone call this morningI'm laying here in my poor,
pitiful me this that this isgoing wrong.
Bob's died.
You know my mom going wrong?
Bob's died.
You know my mom is dead, mydaddy is dead.
All these people have died.
But you know, when we die,that's the beginning, not the
end.
It's just a transition and sohow we get out of it, we look at

(12:52):
the blessing at the end of thisjourney.
How can God use me today?
Maybe I can just be a blessingto somebody and just say hey,
buddy, are you okay today?
I gave a guy some money theother day and one of the people
that was with me when I did ithe said all he's going to do is
buy liquor with it or buy drugswith it.

(13:14):
And you know, I said I don'tcare what he does with it.
The Lord gave me an unction togive this man money.
What he does with it is to him,but I am being obedient to what
I feel that the Lord is sayingto me at this time.

Speaker 1 (13:27):
Yeah, you gave him some anointed money that had the
power of God on it.
He probably got a shock when hegot that money and said oh my
God, what just happened to me?
You know, like when you were akid, and if you rubbed your feet
across the carpet and youtouched something, you got this
shock and it shocked you.

Speaker 2 (13:45):
Yeah, it shocked you.
You gave him that.
I used to make me a littlestatic electric.
Come on, jesus.
Yeah, come on.

Speaker 1 (13:51):
Jesus.
So he's walking over there andhe's thinking about buying that
alcohol and something tells himno, you know what, maybe I
better get that little beanburrito instead.
And you know we laugh at that.
But we can say a prayer and sayLord, when he gets into that
7-Eleven, let him have a desirefor that beanie weenie or that

(14:12):
burrito.
And all of a sudden the cashiersays what are you doing?
You're not, it's not Millertime, no, it's beanie weenie
time.
And you know it's not funny.
But it is funny because youknow you and I were only and all
the people listening, we'reonly one divine thought away

(14:35):
from an incredible day, onedivine thought away from that
solution to the problem in ourlife.

Speaker 2 (14:43):
That's it, you know.
And he is the future.
If we believe in him, webelieve in the beginning and the
end and he is the blessing.
And he just walked us throughthis insane asylum earth to work
things out of us, to get usmore like him.
If we don't work it out of us,it stays in us.
That guy that I gave that moneyto he was sitting there and he

(15:04):
didn't ask for that money, butyou know he was homeless.
You could tell he had all ofhis belongings.
And when I hand it to him hewas like what's this for?
And I said I just want you toknow that the Lord loves you and
I love you.
There is hope after dope andhere.
And he looked at me and he tookit.
He said for real.
I said absolutely Wow.

(15:25):
He said what are you going todo?
I said whatever you want to dowith it.

Speaker 1 (15:49):
Well, you know, and Tommy, going back to
conversations with people thatdon't believe in God, I'll ask
them.
I said, well, will looked outyour business window today and
somebody fell in front of yourplace of business, hit their
head and it was bleeding.
You'd run out there and you'dwant to give comfort.
You wouldn't sit there andlaugh at them and say, hey, what
a dummy you fell on thesidewalk in front of me and they
said well, that's true.
I said where do you think thatcame from?
Where do you think that feelingcame from inside of you?

(16:12):
I believe that is God's moralconscience that he's placed
inside each of us.
Does that make any sense to you, tommy?

Speaker 2 (16:20):
It does.
It does you know, in spite ofourselves we try to.
I'm so good Look at me with myhair long and shaggy.
You know giving to the poor.
What gave you the desire to dothat to begin with?
To make yourself look good?
Absolutely not, because,believe me, I could have used
that money, you know.
But, being just, if we are alittle bit obedient to him and

(16:44):
to his voice, he blesses usoutside of our realm 100%.
And we don't do it for theblessing, we do it because we
love him and his expression, thelove of the Father through us,
and we are that conduit.
We can be that conduit.
I'll tell you what I want tosend you a thing over here at
Remington Hall.

(17:05):
They were a World War IIprisoner of war held here at
Fort McLuhan, alabama.
His name was Alvin Sabin and hepainted a bunch of murals in a
room.
And Bob wrote a song and it'scalled Steel Forming Niagara
Falls.
He said every big shot wouldturn out to be a little squirt
and you can dam up the water,but you can damn well know that

(17:26):
the dam's going to leak andsometimes we just leak out on
people and it's not us reallyleaking out, but it's the spirit
that's in us, by little randomacts for one another.
That's just the sprinkling ofthat water, that loving water,
that spirit that he puts in us,that's so good.

Speaker 1 (17:47):
I was at a fitness center and they had an upstairs
track and I was went early everymorning to do my little running
and jogging, trying to stayhealthy.
Down below was the kitchen, andso I'm not thinking of food,
I'm not thinking about anything,and I got around to the back of
the track.
I was ready to run down thereand get some bread, but

(18:07):
something happened.
I felt that quiet voice insideof me say that aroma is
representative of God's love.
If we are soaked in God's love,that we have an aroma of love
around us, and without saying aword, people will be drawn to us

(18:28):
.
And I think about that everytime I smell bread, the bread of
life is Jesus.
Christ, and when we are soakedand absorbed in his promises,
his love, then we have an aromaof Jesus that goes out and it
goes back to St Francis ofAssisi, who said preach the

(18:50):
gospel everywhere and, whennecessary, use words.

Speaker 2 (18:56):
That's right, right.
And you know the way that, theway that we treat people, the
way that we act around people,is a message in itself.
People is a message in itself,amen.
You know, and it is the waythat you treat your friends when
people see you treatingsomebody on the side of the
street or something that that itseems like some people walk

(19:19):
around.
The way that we treat ourbrother and our sister is not
because we're so good, but it'sbecause that he is so good in us
and we can't get the glory forthat.
No, we can't, he's just all theglory.

Speaker 1 (19:34):
You know, it's kind of like leaving church Sunday
morning.
You can bet that somebody isgoing to pull out in front of
you at that stoplight and youcan go from praise you, Jesus,
you are, are so awesome to whereis that son?
Of a gun.
I'm going to find him, and youknow I always said that if there
was an extra thing I could addin my car Now, this was my

(19:58):
before Jesus days it would besubmachine guns.

Speaker 2 (20:01):
And then, when you come up to those people that
pull off, pull in front of you.

Speaker 1 (20:06):
You just ignite those submachine guns and blow them
off the road.
Of course that was my beforeJesus days.
But right after church you seesomebody go through that
stoplight.
You think of that stuff andthen you say you know what, I'm
not going to let negativeinfluence ruin my day.

Speaker 2 (20:25):
You know, you know that's that is so true.
And it's funny that youmentioned that, because that
happened to me a couple ofSundays ago when I was coming
back and somebody pulled out infront of me and I was like that
son of a gun.
And I heard this and I saiduh-oh, because I know what.
I just left church talkingabout God and Jesus and blessing

(20:46):
and loving and caring about hispeople and all this stuff.
And here comes a guy that hedidn't pull out in front of me
on purpose, I'm sure he justdidn't see me coming.
And here I am ready to wringhis neck, or words to come out
of my mouth to tear him downinstead of build him up.
And I hear that and I said, oh,that's it.
Oh.
So then I started blessing.

(21:07):
Well, and we, when we blessthose, then guess what?
We don't do it because we'regoing to get blessings from it,
but we can do it because we lovehim and that's what we're
commanded to do Blessings, notcurses.

Speaker 1 (21:19):
Yes, and we're still growing to become more like
Jesus.
Let's imitate Jesus in thethings we do and say, and you
know what Everything else fallsinto place.
Well, tommy, what an incrediblemorning.

Speaker 2 (21:32):
call you to just say hi, and end up recording this
for a show.

Speaker 1 (21:37):
So let me ask you, because I was obedient, do you
feel better?
I am, I've got my shoes on.
You've got your shoes on,you're ready for?

Speaker 2 (21:46):
me.
I got my shoes on.
I'm going to go get this daystarted, get this party started,
in the name of you.

Speaker 1 (21:53):
Amen, so right now thank you, Ron, for being
obedient.
The moral of today's show isthis friends, reach out to
somebody today with a kind word,maybe take them to lunch or go
get a cup of coffee, or callyour mom, your dad, your brother
or sister, someone that youknow maybe you haven't talked to
in a while, and just share alittle bit of love.
And just tell somebody todayhow much you love them, because

(22:17):
God is so in love with you.
And today is your day to beginthat relationship with Jesus
Christ, simply by asking Jesusto come into your heart.
Dear Jesus, come into my heart,change my life.
I commit my life to you.
You know, I always tell peoplewhen you begin a commitment to

(22:39):
God.
A lot of people won't walk intochurch right away, but one of my
first books that I recommend isthe book of John.
John is just such a love letter.
Oh yeah, the book of love, thebook of love.
And I think when we understandthis love thing as you said
earlier in the show, how much heloves us, then we have a desire
to want to do things, not outof trying to earn brownie points

(23:03):
, but because we love, becausehe first loved us.

Speaker 2 (23:07):
Sometimes, when we do a deed for somebody, that's be
the only Jesus that that mansees all day long.
That woman sees all day long.

Speaker 1 (23:14):
And speaking of that, Tommy, I'll be sending you a
bill for my little therapysession this morning.

Speaker 2 (23:22):
I love you Ron, I love you brother.

Speaker 1 (23:24):
God bless you.

Speaker 2 (23:25):
We'll talk to you soon, okay, okay, bye.
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